Speed limit lowered on part of Batavia Avenue

Lay off the gas pedal when driving on Batavia Avenue (Route 31) through Batavia: The speed limit has just been lowered on part of it.

From McKee Street to North Avenue, you are now only supposed to drive 30 mph.

The Illinois Department of Transportation made the change late last week.

"I just want to congratulate the staff on the world's fastest traffic study and approval from the state on having our speed limits reduced," Alderman Scott Salvati said at a committee meeting Tuesday.

Aldermen asked Mayor Jeff Schielke on March 6 to request the lower speed limit from IDOT. They had been discussing the safety of a pedestrian crossing at McKee, where the limit was 35 mph.

A 2012 speed study by Batavia police showed that from McKee north to Fabyan Parkway, drivers averaged 37 mph in the morning and 40 mph in the late afternoon. Southbound drivers drove faster than those heading north. And some drivers went as fast as 53 mph.

A 2015 study about downtown Batavia traffic cited residents' concerns. Some said the four-lane highway discouraged people on the west side of town from walking to the downtown, thwarting the city's aim of creating more pedestrian traffic. Some aldermen have taken to referring to the state highway as a "moat."

IDOT estimates an average of 10,200 vehicles a day travel north, and 9,550 south, on the stretch of Batavia Avenue from Wilson Street to Fabyan.

Now, the speed limit on Batavia is 40 mph from Fabyan to North Avenue, then 30 mph from North to the West Side Cemetery.

The limit is now 40 mph southbound from Fabyan Parkway to just north of Timber trail, then 30 mph to Elm Street.